After the explosion, authorities conducted a search for
additional devices in the area and discovered a pressure cooker
with an apparent mobile phone attached to it and wires
protruding.

“How can you say there is no link to terrorism when the Inspire
magazine published instructions on how to build one of these
pressure-cooker bombs, like the one used in the Boston Marathon
bombing?” a reporter, referencing an online magazine linked to Al Qaeda, asked at a press
conference.

De Blasio said it was the job of public-service personnel to
“analyze the facts” and refused to say the incident was
terrorism, a break from New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who had said
earlier in the day, "A bomb exploding in New York is obviously an
act of terrorism.”

We must “understand what motivation existed and why this was done
and how this was done. Until we have that information, it is not
fair for us to give the public a conclusion,” de Blasio said.
“Let the law-enforcement experts draw the conclusions.”

“New York Gov. Cuomo said this morning that this was an act of
terrorism. Does that counteract what you are saying?” a reporter
pressed.

“Again, let the law-enforcement experts draw the conclusions,” de
Blasio replied. “This is the standard that we use here, and I
think it’s the right way to go.”

That answer still didn’t quell the press corps.

“When are you prepared to use the word terror?” a reporter asked.
“I mean, by the dictionary definition or legal definition
— whatever the motivation is, this was an act that harmed
many people, the bombing.”

De Blasio, in a stern voice, walked the journalist through the
known facts before saying that, “it’s important to say what we
know and what we don’t know.”

“It could have been something personally motivated. We don’t know
yet,” the mayor said. “We will keep the public informed every
step of the way, as we get actual real evidence.”

Asked later about the discrepancy between his rhetoric and de
Blasio’s, Cuomo told CNN: “Frankly, it’s semantics.”